Anne Wakefield

St Mary’s Calne and St Margaret’s Prep in Calne, Wiltshire, has appointed Anne Wakefield as its new headmistress effective from September next year.

St Margaret’s Prep is an independent day school catering to children aged two to 11, while St Mary’s Calne is a boarding and day school for girls aged 11 to 18.

Wakefield has been deputy head of Benenden School in Kent since 2019 with specific responsibility for boarding and pastoral care. She is also involved in the school’s marketing, finance and safeguarding. Wakefield was previously deputy head pastoral at Queenswood School near Hatfield, Hertfordshire, where she also managed the school’s co-curricular programme, including the full weekend programme.

Wakefield is a governor at a prep school in Kent and is an inspector for the Independent Schools Inspectorate. She is married to Ben and has a young son who will attend St Margaret’s Prep.

Wakefield said: “I was so impressed with each visit to the school by the warmth and energy from pupils and staff. The values and the ethos of the schools align closely with my own educational beliefs. I am so looking forward to starting to get to know the communities over the next few months and working with the highly experienced senior teams at both schools to build on the phenomenal work to date, as we take St Mary’s and St Margaret’s forward.”